Tory no to Pincents plans

Alok Sharma joins local councillors Emma Webster, Joe Mooney and Tony Linden to protest about the plans for hundreds of new homes in Calcot

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A Tory survey on plans to build a housing estate in Calcot produced almost 900 responses and most were against the plan.

The Conservative prospective Parliamentary hopeful for Reading West Alok Sharma and West Berkshire councillors Joe Mooney, Emma Webster and Tony Linden carried out the poll.

It followed a public meeting in November on a plan by Blue Living to build 700 to 900 homes at the Pincents Hill site next to Sainsbury’s.

The survey was circulated across Tilehurst, Calcot and Theale and 896 residents responded.

The key findings of the survey were:

- 85 per cent wanted no development at all on the Pincents Hill site. - 96 per cent were concerned about the impact of traffic from any development. - 87 per cent were worried about the loss of a green space. - 86 per cent were concerned about the pressure on local public services such as education. - 82 per cent were worried about the impact of development on the environment and wildlife.- 87 per cent felt the Government’s housing target of a minimum of 10,500 homes between 2006 and 2026 for West Berkshire was not acceptable to existing residents.

Mr Sharma said: “The message from the vast majority of local residents could not be clearer – they do not want any development at all on the Pincents Hill site.

“There would clearly be significant traffic issues if any development was allowed to go ahead and the pressure on local schools and doctors would be enormous.

“These issues, coupled with the obvious detrimental impact on the environment and the loss of a valued green space, make any development on this site a non-starter.”

Cllr Joe Mooney, who led opposition to similar proposals in the past, said: “Some years ago, together with local residents, we fought off a smaller development proposed by Charles Church.

“Nothing has changed since then and the reasons that development was rejected are still valid today.

“I know local residents feel very strongly about this issue and this was clear both from the public meeting we held and also comments on the survey – I want to assure everyone that together we will fight any development all the way.”

Cllr Emma Webster said: “I very much hope that Pincents Hill is not included as a preferred site in West Berkshire’s Local Development Framework plans (LDF) and the feedback from 896 local people clearly demonstrates the strong level of local feeling about this issue.

“The battle to save the Pincents Hill site from development is one which we must win.”

Cllr Tony Linden said: “Some of our residents feel that the Blue Living proposal is a done deal and will go ahead.

“Can I make it clear that it is not a done deal.

“The council has yet to receive a planning application from Blue Living and when an application is received we will fight hard, together with our local residents, to get the application turned down, as we did with the Charles Church application in the mid 1980s, which some local residents at the time also thought was inevitable.”

Jonny Anstead, associate director of Blue Living, said: “I would be very interested to see the questions that were asked in this survey because we are very keen to hear local views.

“We have always said we are open to hear from the people who live in the area and we made that clear in the design meetings we held last summer.

"The topics in the survey have already been the subject of discussions in the area through the Pincents Hill liaison panel and the newsletter.”

He said: “This kind of information is helpful for us to get a clear idea of local views on a sustainable community that is best for Pincents Hill.”

He added the need for more housing was another view that had been expressed locally.